“Master Dommik.”
Her second instinct was running to him and flying into his arms, taking the flower from his hands and potting it in the botany enclosures, all while kissing and preparing for take-off. That was playing through her head as she hurried after the androids.
Kat stopped short as the door opened to a gore-covered broken pile of man and metal. Not the man she had pictured. She recoiled as familiar black eyes peered up at her under a face covered in foul smelling grime.
It’s wrong.Kat gagged.No…
He fell forward, scraping limbs against the silver floor. She jumped back and flinched away from the screeches, from the monster dragging forward.
“Kat,” he groaned.
No. No, please no.She barely stopped herself from retching.
The androids surrounded it and tried to lift the broken machine into the ship.
“Dommik?” she asked, afraid of the spindly robot in front of her. His head fell forward under the weight of his hair, dripping brown sludge. “Dommik,” she cried and gripped his face, finding his eyes again amongst the odd metal extruding from his jaw, the metallic teeth pointing up. “Oh my god, what happened to you?”
He twitched and jerked and she felt the shock in her hands. He didn’t answer. His entire body seized and crackled.
“Okay. Okay,” she breathed. “You’re safe now. I’m going to make you better.” Kat put herself under one of his arms and helped the Bins drag him into the ship. They made it half a foot before he collapsed, bringing them with him.
“Dommik! Wake up, WAKE up!” She contorted her body and cupped his face. “You have to help us get you to medical. Dommik!” Screaming at him when he didn’t move. “Please wake up.”
Kat joined the androids again in pulling him forward. “Come on, come on. Come-fucking-on!” She unhooked herself and gripped his arm, trying to pull now with the Bins. “You’re,” she hissed, “So,” she leaned back, “Fucking,” Kat fell on her ass, “Heavy.”
Her hands came away covered in only-gods-know-what something that smelled of sour sulfur.
She got back up and tried again, screaming expletives the whole time. Kat begged him to wake up, changing tactics and finding water to pour on his face, he didn’t.
The Bins on either side of her continued at it with a calm assurance that she wished she had.
Sparks flew off several of his lower limbs and as she moved to get a closer look at the damage, a roar filled her ears.
Not a roar.Kat stiffened, terrified, and looked out the hatch. “That’s not wind,” she whispered, her eyes noticing the other damage her Cyborg had endured. Slashed skin and burned holes.
Kat struggled to her feet and grabbed the pistol that was still attached to Dommik’s unmoving side and ducked out into the open landscape and ran toward the alien’s ship.
“Open up!” she threw herself at the side, tears trickling down her face. “Help me! Markoss. Help me, please!”
Kat pounded at the side of the large spacecraft, knocking the gun against the unmovable wall, spurred on by adrenaline. She didn’t even leave a dent nor a mark, her screams and psychotic worry went unheard between the ships.
“God damn it.” Her body fell into the alien ship and slid down its side. The sound of encroaching battle grew closer.
She wiped at her face and fumbled with the gun, unsure on how to use it, but finding the safety nevertheless and turned it off. With her body trembling from exertion and her palms damp with sweat she held the heavy firearm out before her and watched as the field of stalks began to sway and shake; waiting for whatever, whoever would break through the plant wall.
Kat ducked behind a sharp cone of metal and screamed, “If you don’t fucking help me, Markoss, I will destroy you. If Dommik dies…” she hesitated, waiting, and whispered to herself, “If he dies, I’ll kill you all.” She felt the rage in her words, she believed in it although she knew she wasn’t going to make it out of this alive.
The first men ran through the edge and stopped, taking in the giant metal ships they came to attack. Kat lifted her gun and aimed.
The recoil jerked her hand. She missed and aimed again. Her muscles tensed and she shot off several rounds. One target went down wailing.
They saw her location and started running for her, their bodies becoming a swarm as they appeared from the field. Another went down. She shot at them until her gun clicked empty.Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Kat ducked behind the metal wall and took a deep breath. Her heart wanted her to run, to hide, but her mind and body were ready to fight. She crept back toward the edge, bracing to pounce, her eyes wandering back at the open hatch where her Cyborg laid unmoving and the androids who continued to try to get him inside.
The first Trentian rushed by. She leaped onto him, tearing at his skin and bringing him to the ground. She struggled to get the dagger he wielded.
But then he slumped on top of her, dead.
